Park Inn attacker threatened to stab a day before Glasgow hotel stabbing, hearing told

A Fatal Accident Inquiry hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court into the 2020 Park Inn hotel stabbing heard that Badreddin Abdalla Adam Bosh, a 28-year-old asylum seeker from Sudan, had threatened to stab people 24 hours before the attack. The incident occurred on 26 June 2020 at the Park Inn in Glasgow city centre, where Bosh launched an assault that left six people injured and prompted a fatal response by police.

On that day, officers attempted to subdue Bosh with non-lethal weapons before he was shot by police. The Crown Office later said the use of deadly force was absolutely necessary given the circumstances. The stabbings injured three asylum seekers, two hotel workers and a police officer, David Whyte, who responded to the emergency call.

At the hearing, sheriff principal Aisha Anwar referred Police Scotland Federation’s advocate, Shelagh McCall KC, to transcripts and documents read ahead of the proceeding. McCall confirmed there were threats of stabbing 24 hours prior to the incident, and the advocate noted a report from witness Amanda Trimble addressing the systems in place and risk assessments that should have been carried out. The information was disclosed during the third preliminary hearing in preparation for the full Fatal Accident Inquiry, which will determine the circumstances surrounding Bosh’s death without apportioning blame. A draft joint agreement of evidence and a list of witnesses and documents have been lodged, with about 700 witness statements cited. The bench heard that evidential hearings are expected to run for four to five weeks, and a firearms expert report is due to begin work in October, with a sheriff principal pressing for an early December working deadline.

Mark Stewart KC, representing the next of kin, said he was awaiting the firearms-expert report and that work on producing the report was expected to begin in October. The inquiry’s scope includes examining how the crisis at the Park Inn was managed and how asylum seekers were housed there during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Park Inn site housed around 100 asylum seekers at the time, and the hearing has explored whether police and other agencies were aware of that arrangement during the emergency response. The next preliminary hearing was scheduled for December.

The inquiry also provides context about Bosh’s arrival in the United Kingdom. He had come to the UK after initially arriving in Ireland and had left Sudan following his uncle’s killing. He reportedly told family that he struggled to adapt to life in the Park Inn, a hotel that became the focus of the pandemic-era housing strategy for asylum seekers, and he contracted Covid-19 while living there. He contacted the Home Office and other organizations more than 70 times before the attack regarding his health and his accommodation needs. Authorities said officers were unaware at the time of the incident that the Park Inn housed asylum seekers. A further preliminary hearing was set for December as the inquiry progresses.

In 2023, a separate Crown Office investigation concluded that the police actions during the incident were proportionate. The Fatal Accident Inquiry is a public examination of the circumstances surrounding Bosh’s death in the public interest, and it does not assign blame or fault. A second round of evidential hearings is anticipated to continue through the autumn, with the aim of establishing a comprehensive account of events and the systems involved in the hotel-housing arrangement during a period of heightened vulnerability for asylum seekers.